Couple Saves Injured Baby Deer & Now They're Going to ... Jail?!

Certain actions are supposed to have certain consequences ... right? The law of cause and effect, or whatever? Except sometimes, in this life, A + B = #*$. Just ask Jeff and JenniferCounceller of Indiana. Over two years ago, the police officer and his wife found an injured fawn on their neighbor's porch. The baby deer was in bad shape, as Jennifer remembers it: "I could feel all of the open wounds all along her back side and she wouldn't stand up." The Councellers felt terrible for the poor abandoned creature, so they took her home, determined to nurse her back to health. They named her Little Orphan Dani and spent over a year helping her to heal and grow, planning to release her into the wild once she was strong enough. Little Dani was thriving.

The end! What a happy story! BUT NO. That's when things went seriously sideways ...

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Because that's when an Indiana Conservation Officer showed up and discovered Dani. "Hey, that's not a dog!" said the officer. (I don't know what he said, actually.) But I DO know that the officer reported the Councellers to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and THEY decided it would be best to euthanize Dani because she was potentially "dangerous and a threat to people."

NO, DON'T KILL BAMBI!!!

Luckily (also, suspiciously), Dani "inexplicably escaped" from the Councellers' backyard on the very day she was scheduled to be put down. Phew! Run, Bambi, run!!!

But the Councellers are still in huge trouble: They've been charged with unlawful possession of a deer -- a misdemeanor that could land them in jail for up to 60 days and/or cost them up to $2,000 in fines. Come on, really?! I get that deer are illegal to own as pets, but as far as illegal pets go, at least a deer is a more benign choice than, say, a chimpanzee or a bear. Why not go pick on some people with more obviously dangerous and threatening pets and leave this couple alone? Or, better yet, give them a gold star for being kind and unselfish and compassionate.